Video Games Go for Tried and True

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Video Games Go for Tried and True

LOS ANGELES – Nintendo's Satoru Iwata was dead on about one thing: When the videogame industry gets a good idea, or a hit, it is endlessly sequeled by its creator and ripped off by the wannabees. The only industry with more sequels planned than Hollywood is the video game market.

At this year's Electronic Entertainment Expo, we saw, among others, Final Fantasy X from SquareSoft (if the first one was the final fantasy why have there been nine more of them?), which commanded a near 50-foot line of people waiting to see the preview.

Then there was WarCraft III from Blizzard Entertainment, Civilization III from Firaxis, 3D Realms' Duke Nukem Forever (fourth in the series), Myth III: The Wolf Age from Mumbo Jumbo and no less than three Star Trek titles; Armada II, Bridge Commander and Deep Space Nine: Dominion Wars.

Never let it be said that no good idea goes un-recycled.

While most video games have, at the very least, a competitive nature about them, and at the worst are virtual mass murder, there were a few games that actually had a benevolent purpose to them. Do2Learn specializes in games for children with learning disabilities, including autism.

The oddest one, sheep|dog: Trial By Fire, simulates a dog shepherding a flock of sheep. It's an effort to build intelligent systems. It was definitely a different use of AI than Max Payne.

Bubblegum princess Britney Spears is now on your computer, too – like we can't get away from her already. Enroute has created an interactive DVD for the PlayStation 2 called Experience Britney, which gives the player a full 360 degree view of the arena, from stage to audience. You can watch the show from any perspective, and it allows players to go backstage and will include games, no doubt with a Spears theme to them.

Booth babes, those scantily dressed models hired to attract male attention, have long been a regular part of E3, and even if there were fewer this year there were still quite a few on display.

So it was amusing and ironic to hear at least one vendor, who asked not to be identified, complain that attendees were coming to the booth to have their picture taken with the babes and then leaving without checking out the game.